Redlands skate park backers present City Councilman Jon Harrison with a deck on April 17, 2018. The Council voted to approve the contract for the project that evening. (Jennifer Iyer, Redlands Daily Facts/SCNG)

Backers have been working for more than a decade to raise public interest and money for the project.

“I’m on cloud nine,” said Justin Weekley, co-founder of The Friends of Redlands Skatepark in a phone interview. “I’m happy to finally see this getting done.”

As a stepfather to four teens, he said, having a premier skate park in town will be invaluable.

At the meeting Tuesday, Weekley and his 16-year-old son presented Councilman Jon Harrison, who has helped see the project along, with a brightly colored deck with the name of the city and a skull on it. Weekley said he expects the councilman, a new grandfather, to be at the opening with blue hair like he promised.

The council awarded the contract to the lowest bidder, Three Peaks Corp., and chose to construct the facility all at once instead of building it in phases. The price for the combined project plus a contingency is $1,150,478.

Councilwoman Toni Momberger suggested constructing the park all at once would likely save the city money.

“I think it’s going to get more expensive as we wait in addition to the fact that new construction is always going to be better than remodeling,” she said at the meeting.

Part of the money designated for the project, $127,516, came from efforts by Friends of Redlands Skatepark, SK8 Park, the Tony Hawk Foundation and more.

“It’s very reassuring to know that the public is behind it,” said skatepark backer Matt Buyak over the phone. “It’s worth it. It’s something that everybody can participate in.”

Harrison thanked staff and the community for getting the park to this point.

“Perhaps the most important donors were the skaters themselves,” Harrison said. With the kids and community pitching in, he said, “I think we really owe it to them to provide them with a park of which we all can be proud.”

The final design of the park consists of approximately 15,000 square feet of surface area with features such as a snake-run, donor benches, stairs, rails, a China wall and a large bowl.

A lifelong Inland resident, Jennifer Iyer started working in journalism at The Press-Enterprise in 2000. She has written (and shot photos for) stories on wildflowers, camping with a dog, and many community events, and as a videographer covered wildfires and war games to blimp rides and camel racing from Temecula to Big Bear Lake, Twentynine Palms to Jurupa Valley.